News Category
Public theology fellow leaves legacy of community building and support
Dec. 20, 2021—The Rev. Teresa L. Smallwood, who helped launch Vanderbilt’s Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative as associate director in 2017, is moving to Pennsylvania’s United Lutheran Seminary in January. Over Smallwood’s four years at Vanderbilt Divinity School, the Collaborative has hosted nearly 30 workshops and more than 20 fellows and scholars to advance racial justice...
Preparing for divinity school: A reading list
Jul. 28, 2021—Guest post by the Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Vocation, and Stewardship So you’re going to divinity school/seminary. Congratulations! I absolutely loved my experience, and now I get to be present with people who are figuring out if div school is the next right step, which div school, and then be around...
This is the first step not the conclusion
Apr. 20, 2021—A reflection from our dean, Emilie M. Townes Guilty on all three counts. These three counts can be—and hopefully will—be positive steps to not only police reform but to our very broken criminal justice system where the scales of justice are not blind but often tilted against the poor, people of color, women, queer, trans,...
the power of words to harm and heal
Apr. 2, 2021—Emilie M. Townes Spring Faculty Assembly Presentation Delivered 1 April 2021 download a PDF of this presentation with its original formatting. perhaps you are familiar with this childhood chant: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me i remember my teachers, grandmother, parents, aunts, and other mothers teaching it...
A response to Atlanta area killings
Mar. 18, 2021— by Emilie M. Townes, Dean and Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society Hearts and souls reach out to the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities in Atlanta and beyond. The senseless deaths of eight people, six of them Asian women, joins the list of massacres that are becoming a dominant narrative of our...
A statement of solidarity from the Vanderbilt Divinity Student Government Association
Mar. 18, 2021—To the Vanderbilt Divinity School community, In the wake of Tuesday’s murders of Asian American persons in Atlanta and amidst a disturbing nationwide trend of violence, discrimination, and xenophobia directed against the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander community, the Vanderbilt Divinity School Student Government Association declares our solidarity with our Asian, Asian American, and...
Zoom crashed. Now what?
Sep. 18, 2020—Helpful tips and contingency planning for Zoom Compiled by Sophia Agtarap, Vanderbilt Divinity School Director of Communications Though Zoom has proved to be a helpful tool for online teaching, learning, and meeting, every system has its limits–some of which we have already experienced. Below are helpful practices and contingency plans so that in the event...
Call for Applications: Carpenter/LGBT Policy Lab Fellows
Sep. 14, 2020—Call for Applications: Carpenter/LGBT Policy Lab Fellows The Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexuality is hiring two paid LGBT Policy Fellows (MTS or MDiv) for the 2020-21 school year. Vanderbilt’s LGBT Policy Lab has partnered with the Carpenter Program to craft a collaborative learning experience that equips participants to understand how Christianity has been weaponized to enforce anti-LGBTQIA+...
A Call and Response to the Capitol Commission’s Historic Vote
Jul. 9, 2020—Dear all– We join a number of people today rejoicing to hear that the Capitol Commissioners voted to remove the bust of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, U.S. Admiral David Farragut, and U.S. Admiral Albert Gleaves from the capitol building. Wednesday, July 8, VDS Black faculty and staff wrote and signed a letter (see below) to Governor...
A letter to the community on return to campus
Jun. 16, 2020—Students taking classes in person are required to stay in Nashville until the Thanksgiving break. Any student with an urgent need to travel must get approval from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs before making any plans. If approved to travel, per current VU policy, the student will be required to stay away from campus...